Blender for stripped tobacco



April 7, 1959 s. E. STRICKLAND 2,880,735

BLENDER FOR STRIPPED TOBACCO Filed Dec. 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 'ih-73 I Y, Z I

L! 2 2 u E 1 s IN/VENTOR. BY Silos E. Strickland E5. m 6ym 4d4J ldfirwATTORNEYS April .7, 1959 s. E. STRICKLAND 2,330,735

BLENDER FOR STRIPPED TOBACCO Filed Dec. 16, 1957 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

INVENTOR.

Silas E. Strickland BY M 31w 1 4( fia/vwu/v jn aiv ATTORNEYS I BLENDERFOR STRIPPED TOBACCO Silas E. Strickland, Richmond, Va., assignor to TheAmerican Tobacco Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication December 16, 1957, Serial No. 702,870

Claims. (Cl. 131108) This invention relates to apparatus for blendingtobacco and more particularly to mechanical means for delivering tobaccofrom a plurality of sources to a blending conveyor.

At the present time, it is the practice to blend strip tobacco byplacing a number of hogsheads of tobacco along the side of a conveyor,and then remove a horizontal section of the tobacco from each of thehogsheads in series, the layers or sections so removed being placed onthe conveyor. When the operator reaches the end of the line ofhogsheads, he returns to the other end and takes another slice or layerfrom each until the supply of tobacco is exhausted. While the operatoris placing the tobacco from hogsheads at one side on the conveyor, asimilar line of hogsheads of tobacco is positioned on the other side ofthe conveyor and the operation is then repeated on the other side.

In the present invention, I provide mechanically operated means forremoving layers of tobacco from hogsheads at each side of the blendingconveyor and delivering them to the blending conveyor. For each stationwhere a hogshead is placed on each side of the conveyor, I provide ,aunit traveling at right angles to the path of the blending conveyor. Theunit comprises a main frame .movable on suitable overhead supportingmeans to traverse a path which extends across the blending conveyor, anda distance on each side of the blending conveyor corresponding to thespace occupied by a hogshead of tobacco.

The main frame, in turn, supports a vertically movable frame and thisframe carries an endless conveyor chain having a plurality of pinsprojecting from it. The vertically movable frame is adjusted to placethe lower flight of the conveyor just above the top of the hogshead orportion of a hogshead of tobacco located at the station beneath theunit. When theconveyor chain moves across. the tobacco, the pinsseparate a layer of tobacco and deliver itto the blending conveyor.

In operation, a line .of hogsheads is arranged in position on one sideof the main conveyor. The mechanism is positioned over the hogsheadswithan operating unit over each hogshead. The mechanism is then operated toremove tobacco from the top ofeach hogshead and deliver it to the mainconveyor. Thetobacco is raked from the tops of the hogshead by-the pinsor rakes, and the vertically movable frame is moved downwardlyrelatively slowly as this operation is performed. When all of thetobacco in a line of hogsheads at one side of the main conveyor has beenfed to the main conveyor, the movable frame is raised, at a higherspeed. In the meantime, a line of hogsheads has been placed on theopposite side of the main conveyor. The mechanism is then moved to aposition over the second line of hogsheads and the operation repeated,the conveyors carrying the rakes or pins being driven in the reversedirection to deliver the separated tobacco to the main conveyor. At theend of its flight the main conveyor generally delivers the tobacco2,880,735 Pa ent d .A rv' .195

through an opening in the fioortoother tobaceohandling equipment on thefloor below.

The use of the apparatus not only eliminates considerable manual laborbut gives more uniform results and thus produces better blending than ispossible in a hand operation.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one form of theinvention. In this showing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-.-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the mounting of the pins which remove thetobacco from the top of the hogsheads.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, .the reference numeral 2 designatesthe blending conveyor which, in present practice, is an endless beltrunning at approximately the door level on its operative flight. Toobtain a more uniform product, a number of hogsheads 4 of tobacco areplaced in aline on one side of conveyor 2, and similar hogsheads, shownin dotted lines, are placed on the other side. While the tobacco piles 4are spoken of as hogsheads, they are the contents of hogsheads whichhave been removed from them, and placed as shown. To remove portions orlayers of tobacco from the hogsheads, I provide a plurality of memberswhich move transversely of the path of conveyor 2.

Each of these members consists of a laterally movable frame 6 and avertically movable frame t carried by the laterally movable frame. Asshown, a series of I beams it) extend across the area justbelow theceiling. The frames 6, in units of one or more, are suspended frombrackets 12. These brackets carry rollers 14 which ride on the lowerflanges of the I beams (see Fig. 3). The bracket members are arranged inpairs, one on each side of a beam, and each bracket member carries apair of rollers. The rollers engage the lower flanges of the l beams. Ateach side of the apparatus I provide a shaft i6. These shafts may besupported in bearings mounted in brackets 18. One of the shafts isdriven by a motor Ztl, the motor being connected to the shaft by a chain22 passing over sprockets on the motor shaft and the shaft 16, or in anyother suitable manner.

The frames 6 and 8 are formed in units of desired size to providesupporting means for a plurality of endless chains which carry the pinsor fingers by means of which the layers of tobacco are removed from thetops of the hogsheads. At suitable intervals, the shafts 1.6 areprovided with sprockets 24. Chains 26 are connected to the upper frame 6at one side, for instance, the right in Fig. 2, are then passed oversprockets 24 carried by the shaft 16 at the right side of the apparatus,then across the apparatus as shown in dotted lines around the sprocket24- on the other shaft 16, and then connected to the other side of theframe. Thus the frame 6, and the other parts associated with it, may bemoved laterally of the main conveyor by causing the motor 20 to revolvein one direction or the other.

As stated, the frame 8 is movable vertically. It may be suspended fromframe 6 and caused to move up and down by variousmeans. One :such meansis the provision of motors 30 carried by frame 6. Motor 30 is providedwith a shaft having sprockets 32 thereon. Chains 34 pass over thesesprockets, and also over sprockets 36 carried on shafts 38. Shafts 38,as shown, are mounted in bearings carried by brackets 40 on the frame 6.One shaft is mounted at each side of the unit. Drums 42 are also mountedon shaft 38. Cables 56, mounted on drums 42 on shaft 38, extenddownwardly and are connected to frame 8. Arrangement of the cables inthis manner causes the cables to be fed out when the motor is rotated inone direction to lower the frame 8, and to be wound on their respectivedrums when the motor is to tated in the opposite direction. Thus,rotation in a clockwise direction (as viewed in Fig. 2) raises frame 8,and counterclockwise rotation lowers it. I may also connect shafts 38 bya chain 44 passing over sprockets 46 on the shafts. This serves as asafety device and prevents the unit from falling if one of the chainsbetween. the motor shaft and one of the shafts 38 should break.

Lower frame 8 is provided with shafts of at each side. These shafts areeach provided With a pair of sprockets 62 for each unit. A pair ofchains 64 pass over each air of sprockets. These chains are connected bycross 11 66. Each of the cross bars carries a plurality of outwardlyprojecting pins or fingers 68. A motor 74 is mounted on frame 8. A chain72 passes over a sprocket on the motor shaft and over a sprocket on oneof the shafts 60 to move the pins over the upper portion of a hogsheadof tobacco. The tobacco, engaged by pins 63, offers considerableresistance to the travel of the conveyors. To stabilize the apparatus, Iprovide vertical poles 73 at spaced intervals which are engaged byrollers 74 when the apparatus is in either of its operative positions.

The operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoingdescription. As heretofore, hogsheads of tobacco are placed in line onone side of a blending conveyor. In the illustration, tobacco fromhogsheads 4, shown in dotted lines at the top in Fig. l, is beingdelivered to the blending conveyor. Vertically movable frame 8 isadjusted to a position where chains 64 are just above the level of thehogshead, and pins 68 lightly engage the tobacco at the top of thehogshead, as shown in Fig. 2. The frame is raised and lowered by motor30 and cables 56. The motor may be driven at two or more speeds topermit frame 8 to be raised from its lowermost position to its uppermostposition rapidly, and adjusted downwardly at a slower rate. With thevertically movable frame 8 properly adjusted to remove the desiredamount of tobacco from each hogshead, motor 7c is actuated to move theconveyors o l-66 and cause pins 63 to separate tobacco from the top ofeach hogshead. The lower frame is lowered at a predetermined speed untilall of the tobacco from the hogsheads has been delivered to the mainconveyor. It is then raised, preferably at a higher speed, and theentire unit moved to the opposite side of conveyor 2 over the line ofhogsheads that has been arranged there. Motor 7i? is reversible,permitting the conveyors 64 66 to be driven in either direction todeliver the tobacco to the blending conveyor from either side. Thus,when tobacco is being delivered to the blending conveyor from hogsheadson the left, as in Fig. 2, the operative flight of this conveyor movesfrom left to right. The tobacco placed on the blending conveyor isdelivered to other apparatus by means of which further blending oftobacco from a plurality of hogsheads is completed to produce a moreuniform product.

As the tobacco is being delivered to the blending conveyor from thehogsheads at one side, a row of hogsheads is arranged at the other side(see Fig. 1). When all of the tobacco on the first side has beendelivered to the blending conveyor, the units are moved to the otherside by motor 20 and the operation repeated.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described comprising a longitudinallymovable conveyor, a frame movable transversely over the conveyor, avertically movable frame carried by the first frame, and means carriedby the vertically movable frame to convey material from the side of theconveyor on to the conveyor.

2. Apparatus of the character described comprising a longitudinallymovable conveyor, a plurality of units movable transversely over theconveyor, each of said units comprising a transversely movable frame, avertically movable frame carried by the transversely movable frame, andmeans carried by the vertically movable frame to convey material fromthe side of the conveyor on to the conveyor.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the means for conveyingmaterial on to the conveyor consists of endless chains carried by thevertically movable frame and pins carried by the chains to engagematerial at the side of the conveyor and deliver it to the conveyor.

4. Apparatus of the character described comprising a longitudinallymovable conveyor, a frame mounted over the conveyor and movabletransversely from one side of the conveyor to the other, a verticallymovable frame carried by the first frame, and means carried by thevertically movable frame to engage material at the side of the conveyorand move it on to the conveyor.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 including drive means for thevertically movable frame to progressively lower the frame and delivermaterial to the conveyor until substantially all of the piles ofmaterial arranged at one side has been delivered to the conveyor.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the means carried bythe vertically movable frame consists of endless conveyors having meansto engage the top of a hogshead of tobacco positioned at the side of themain conveyor and deliver tobacco from the top of the hogshead to theconveyor.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 including endless conveyorscarried by the vertically movable frame, and projecting pins are mountedon said endless conveyors, the pins of each of said endless conveyorsbeing arranged to rake the top of a hogshead of tobacco as the conveyoris moved across the top of the hogshead, and deliver tobacco to thelongitudinally movable conveyor.

8. Apparatus for feeding tobacco or like material comprising avertically movable frame, means carried by the frame to separate a layerof material from the top of a pile below the frame and deliver theseparated material to one side of the pile, and means for progressivelylowering the frame to maintain said separating means in contact with thetop of the pile.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 8 in which said separating meansincludes an endless conveyor movable over the top of the pile ofmaterial.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 including projecting pins onsaid endless conveyor which are adapted to rake material from the top ofthe pile and deliver it to one side of the pile.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,570,270 Patterson Oct. 9, 1951 2,796,066 Creuzburg June 18, 19572,805,666 Schlossmacher Sept. 10, 1957

